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Hendon Hooker will be selected at some point in the 2023 NFL Draft. Should the Indianapolis Colts be the team to scoop him up?
Indianapolis desperately needs a quarterback who has potential, and that's exactly what Hooker is.
The North Carolina native is coming off a five-year collegiate career, spending time with both the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Tennessee Volunteers. He threw for a combined 8,974 yards, 80 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions.
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This past season at Tennessee, Hooker completed 69.6 per cent of his passes for 3,135 yards, 27 touchdowns and two interceptions in 11 games. The Volunteers went 9-2 with him as their starter.
Hooker was a serious Heisman Trophy candidate before going down with a season-ending ACL injury in November against South Carolina.
Does it make sense for the Indianapolis Colts to draft Hendon Hooker in the 2023 NFL Draft?
The Indianapolis Colts currently own the fourth overall pick in the draft. They could stay in that spot or possibly trade up and make a deal with the Chicago Bears, who possess top selection.
Chicago already has a franchise quarterback on the roster in Justin Fields, so they could very well trade the pick to a quarterback-needy team like the Colts.
The Colts will more than likely draft a quarterback with their first-round pick. That means someone like Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Kentucky’s Will Levis or Florida’s Anthony Richardson will ultimately end up with the team.
However, Indianapolis could still take Hooker later on in the draft. He’s projected to go into the third round due to his ACL injury and age (25).
Selecting two quarterbacks in the same draft has happened before. Washington did it back in 2012, taking Robert Griffin III second overall and then Kirk Cousins in the fourth round (102nd overall pick).
It wouldn't hurt the Colts to draft a quarterback during the first round and select Hooker later on. Hooker could be an insurance plan in case the first-round QB gets injured (knock on wood).
That’s what happened in Washington. Cousins took over as the starter after Griffin was bitten hard by an injury bug.
If Hooker can return to the same player he was before the injury, he could develop into an NFL star down the road. So yes, the Colts should take a chance and draft him.
